


A Missing Piece

by wallflowerdalek



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies), Mad Max: Fury Road
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 15:02:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4440401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wallflowerdalek/pseuds/wallflowerdalek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Max visits the Citadel. Flash fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Missing Piece

It was two years before Max came back for his blood.

How he made it back was anyone's guess. What they knew was this: the lift went down and up twice a day, early and late, when the heat was the least. When it reached the ground that morning he emerged from a heap of sand, as if a monster created from the poison earth. He crawled painfully on among the people leaving, more blood on his clothes than under his skin. He rolled on his side and whispered "Furiosa" in a voice like sand over rocks.

She had been working on the water pump when one of the War Boys (the name had stuck though they didn't go to war anymore) had come for her. "Imperator? A man is asking for you."

And she knew.

And she ran.

He looked at her with those eyes, just the same. Like the bright sun on the salt, shimmering with mirages. "Have some of my juice back?" he muttered.

After, they sat side by side on the very top of the Citadel and ate fruit. Real fruit. A peach. He stared at it after every bite, licked his lips and his fingers and every last drop. She watched him. He smiled at her, crooked, and pocketed the clean pit.

Furiosa led him through the Citadel, a queen leading an animal through the castle. After all, he moved like a wild animal still, at her heel like a dog. She pointed out things, the school they had started, the farms. He looked at everything, his movements jerky, calculating and unhinged.

"Nice place you got here," he said.

"It wouldn't be here without your help," she said.

"Yeah," he said. Impressed with himself still.

He stayed for three days. Helped some of the War Boys run drills, because although they didn't practice war anymore, they were frequently attacked by any faction that thought perhaps Furiosa had gotten soft. Ate everything they handed him. Smiled, twice a day at least.

When he left on the fourth day, she didn't cry. Furiosa didn't cry. And she knew that she should feel peace, that she had paid him back, that he was still alive out there.

But mostly what she felt was phantom pain, like when her missing arm hurt her, only it was a limb she hadn't even known she had. A limb she didn't know she needed. She didn't wonder if he would come back. She could only hope the pain would dull with time.


End file.
